356 ROSA: SCIENTIFIC WORK OF THE) GOVERNMENT 



well as to other residents of Washington. The desire of federal 

 employees for educational advancement should be encouraged 

 and the needed facilities supplied, partly for their own sake and 

 partly because they would thereby be enabled to render better 

 service to the government. Washington is the proud capital 

 of the richest nation on earth, and yet there are few cities in 

 America and few capitals anywhere in the world where so little 

 is done for higher education. 



Recently, the Federal Board for Vocational Education has 

 been established, and a substantial sum placed at its disposal. 

 The need for vocational training was emphasized by the results 

 of tests made in the army. Of men claiming expert knowledge 

 of the skilled trades, only six in a hundred were found to be 

 really expert. The Board assists the states financially and 

 otherwise in developing and maintaining a system of vocational 

 training. Such work is greatly needed as industry itself fails 

 to supply the training necessary. 



For many years the government has been cooperating with 

 the states by paying a certain sum of money each year to one 

 college in each state for the teaching of agriculture and mechanic 

 arts. This was provided for under the Morrill act, and these 

 payments now amount to $2,500,000 per year. In most cases 

 these sums are a very substantial help to the institutions receiving 

 them, and undoubtedly do a very great deal of good in the aggre- 

 gate. 



An English journal, commenting on the increased sums allotted 

 in the English budget for next year to scientific and industrial 

 research, has this to say: "Education and the financing of that 

 education are important subjects. Indeed, we do not hesitate 

 to say that upon the right method of instruction being followed 

 depends very largely the future prosperity of the nation." 



THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



15. The Library of Congress is a great national institution, 

 corresponding to the British Museum and the Bibliotheque 

 Nationale. It is properly grouped with the educational institu- 

 tions of the government, and it is an institution of which all 



